I thought Kaufmann was a pitchers park

[longgandhi]

I know it's early, but 12 games into the season my Kaufmann team has already surrendered 34 home runs! Randy Johnson has an ERA of 9 and has given up 6 homers in 14 innings. This was his last outing:

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2006/league/boxscore.html?group_id=1823&g_id=69

Is it time to preach patience or blow this staff up?

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/2006/team/team_other.html?user_id=4646

Thanks.

[visick]

Preach patience my Strat friend.

Just a few pearls of wisdom...

RJ will be very effective in pitchers parks. In hitting parks, righties can and will tee off on him.

Smoltz can pitch anywhere.

Weaver can be effective vs. righty heavy hitting teams, but vs. lefties he's ugly.

Lopez? There are better choices for a 4th starter, let's just say that.

Your bullpen also leaves alot to be desired.

What other parks are in your division? If you are playing against teams in hitters parks, your pen will get killed.

[longgandhi]

The division has Jacobs, US Cellular and Great America. So far, it hasn't matter what park they've "pitched" in - they've gotten killed.

The other line-ups are mostly right-handed but the division leader (in Jacobs) has Ortiz, Utley and Dellucci.

Nathan has been surprisingly terrible so far. Was contemplating cashing him in with Rafael Furcal for cheaper options at closer (Howry?) and short (Cabrera? Eckstein?) in order to retool the rotation. Maybe pick up Dan Cabrera to replace Lopez as the #4, Majewski for the pen... I'm guessing here.

[SCOTTBROWN]

Like socal says, be patient. The team that make knee-jerk reactions, especially this early, and winds up w/ a less than $70M team at the end doesnt make the playoffs very often.

[Stoney18]

12 games is too early to be making changes. Hold tight until 30-40.

[longgandhi]

OK, we're coming up on 40 games played and you guys were right - the starting pitching settled down and has been pretty decent. Brian Lawrence has been a pleasant surprise for anyone looking for really cheap options in a pitchers park.

However, as you guys also noted the bullpen still blows which means I need to clear a couple million in salary so I can pick up one or two decent arms. Probably the simplest way is to drop Furcal in exchange for Cabrera at short, but will I get any production out of his bat?

Other options are to drop Manny or Hall or Abreu, but then replacements become the issue. The division has Jacobs, US Cellular and Great America and those pitching staffs feature only 4 lefty starters - Sabathia, Pettitte, Willis and Beuhrle. Suggestions?

[sjh0825]

No matter the reason, your team has a -38 run differential!!

with a 25-17 record I wouldn't change a thing. Probably those blow out losses that put up the big differential.

good Luck

[longgandhi]

Yeah, the blowout losses have been key. The team has lost six of the first 45 games by 10 runs or more. In those games they've been outscored 102-21. In the rest of the games, they've outscored the opposition 204-153.

Oddly enough, three of the blowout losses were started by either Randy Johnson or John Smoltz. Go figure.